kanye west is a douchebag...but he isn't dangerous

Let’s gain some perspective, people. Kanye is a douchebag. Yes. That is indisputable. He is also a genius. Which may or may not be disputed. But, in the scheme of things, he is a douchebag but he isn’t actually dangerous.

Here’s what he did. He interrupted an acceptance speech. At the VMAs. Which give you a sense of their musical claim to legitimacy upfront by being predicated on the notion that MTV actually somehow still plays videos on a regular basis.

And yet somehow this has resulted in a reaction that puzzles me. Genuine furor by some. People saying they’ll boycott his music. Acting as though he went on stage, stole Taylor Swift’s favorite beloved pet kitten from her hands and ate it in front of her with glee. No, he took her microphone, he took her moment, he took it too far. But he did not, actually, in the grand scheme of things actually hurt anyone or anything, other than Taylor Swift’s feelings.

He interrupted a speech. At the VMAs.

Not at a health-care debate – the very notion of which is both comic and tragic to me, given that it has taken over 3 months for me to get health insurance again, despite working full-time and applying to the very same health insurance company that I have been covered under for the last 8-odd years – but, no, reform can totally wait while congressmen scream YOU LIE! at our nation’s president and, oh, BTW, Iraq has a better health-care system than us.

He did not beat Taylor Swift unconscious before her scheduled performance, send out a message to his fans that they would see Taylor’s “true colors” soon, receive no more punishment than community service for a brutal physical assault, compare being dissed by Oprah to “a slap in the face” after being a perpetrator of domestic violence and say, oh, yes, maybe I finally should seek some professional help and counseling several months after he nearly choked a young woman to death and left her unconscious on the side of the road.

He is not a drug-addicted pedophile who was canonized into sainthood – or, at least, martyrdom, during the opening ceremonies of the VMAs because he “never had a childhood” – which, yeah, meanwhile, I’m so sure that Paris, Blanket and Prince had the father of the fucking year because nothing says good parenting skills quite like daddy Demerol-dripping himself into a Neely O’Hara haze. He is not a statutory rapist. He is not the perpetrator of some weird freaky incestuous fucked-up beyond belief family dynamic. He did not run over some little kid and proceed to smoke crack and release a sex tape with McSteamy.

He is a douchebag. But he isn’t actually dangerous.

Acting as though Kanye West is a MONSTER who must QUICKLY BE STOPPED before HE HURTS EVERYONE AGAIN is granting far too much legitimacy to a silly awards show and, frankly, takes away from all the genuinely horrible things going on for which legitimate moral outrage is not only the appropriate but also the necessary response. Things like women being denied heath insurance because companies consider domestic violence a “pre-existing condition.” Or that, in this day and age, there are millions of Americans in loving, stable relationships who can’t be granted the same rights as others simply by virtue of the fact that their partner happens to be of the same-sex. That hate crimes are far too common – that discrimination is still persistent – that despite me thinking, in my wildest dreams somehow, that our society by now would’ve progressed into a more loving, caring, understanding place, I’ve had to deal with intolerant idiots using homophobic language in my vicinity TWICE in one week.
In 2009. In Los Angeles, CA.

If you need something to be angry about, you needn’t look far. And if you need someone to direct this anger towards, I can suggest plenty of people besides Kanye West.

Because he is a douchebag. But he isn’t actually dangerous.

* - I realize this is several days late and many dollars short, but I've been busy.

** - This post wouldn't have been possible without several friends and their linkage to other things, so thanks to all.